Bird flu shuts down Skopje Zoo: Animals put down and visitors kept out

Skopjes main zoo shut its gates on 10/19/24 after officials found a dangerous type of bird flu. The sickness was spotted in a goose that died in one of the zoos ponds

A statement from the zoo said‚ “Tests showed the goose had H5N1 virus which is very bad for birds.“ After finding this out‚ workers had to kill many ducks geese chickens and even a jackdaw that lived near the same water.

The zoo wont open for at least 3 weeks. During this time‚ workers will clean everything check other animals‚ and do more things to stop the sickness from spreading

North Macedonia hasnt seen bird flu in about 2 years (and that was only in wild birds). This kind of flu can be really bad for chicken farms and can make it hard to buy or sell birds and their products. Whats more‚ some types of bird flu can even make people sick

Skopje Zoo is a big deal in the area. Its been around since 1926 and lots of people visit it every year – not just from North Macedonia but from all over the Western Balkans. The zoo used to get a lot of complaints about how it treated its animals; but starting in 2008 they spent a bunch of money to make things better. They even worked with a big European zoo group to get up-to-date

Improvements have been made‚ but challenges remain

This closing is a big deal for the zoo and the city. It means no visitors for a while‚ and theyll have to work hard to make sure everything is safe before they can open again